Magrat Garlick
Rather Mad Witch
Test Team:
1 Sydney Francis Barnes
Born 19 April 1873, Smethwick, Staffordshire, England
Played for Warwickshire, Lancashire, Wales and England
Right Handed Batsman
Test Debut: 1st Test, Sydney, Australia v England, 13-16 December 1901 - Took 6/139 and scored 26*.
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1910
27 Tests for England
242 runs @ 8.06
189 wickets @ 16.43
24 5-wicket-hauls in an innings
7 10-wicket-hauls in a match
12 catches
An excellent bowler, and one who should be in most All-time XIs. Although no video footage is available from the early 1900s, he is rumoured to have bowled both swing and spin with the same ball. He also held the record for most wickets in a Test match until Jim Laker came along - the record, set at Johannesburg in 1913, was 17 wickets for only 159 runs. Of course, his statistics might have been slightly skewed by the fact that pitches were different in those days - we may never know.
3 Charles Stewart Dempster
Born 15 November 1903, Wellington, New Zealand
Played for Wellington, Scotland, Leicestershire, Warwickshire and New Zealand
Right Handed Batsman
Test Debut: 1st Test, Christchurch, New Zealand v England, 10-13 January 1930 - scored 11 and 25, bowling the final over of the game and ending with figures of 0/10
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1932
10 Tests for New Zealand
723 runs @ 65.72
2 Test centuries
5 Test fifties
2 catches
Despite only playing ten Test matches, Charles Dempster ranks among the finest batsmen produced by New Zealand. He played very well against the slow bowlers in particular, with excellent footwork and a strong player of the offside. He allegedly did not receive any coaching until he arrived in England in 1927 - and only three years later, he played his first Test.
5 Charles Thomas Biass Turner
Born 16 November 1862, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia
Played for New South Wales and Australia
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Medium Fast Bowler
Test Debut: 1st Test, Sydney, Australia v England, 28-31 January 1887 - took 8/68 in the match, among them an opening stint of 18 overs with 6/15 which reduced England to 45 all out
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1889
17 Tests for Australia
323 runs @ 11.53
101 wickets @ 16.53
11 5-wicket-hauls in an innings
2 10-wicket-hauls in a match
8 catches
Charles Turner is another of the late 19th-century great cricketers. He usually opened the bowling with John James Ferris - a left-arm swing bowler - who eventually gave up his Australian career, and moved to England. Both tended to take wickets at an insane average, and despite the clear bowler advantage during these times, Turner must have been a somewhat special bowler.
8 Kumar Chokshanada Sangakarra
Born 27 October 1977, Matale, Sri Lanka
Played for Nondescripts and Sri Lanka
Left Handed Batsman
Wicket-keeper
Test Debut: 1st Test, Galle, Sri Lanka v South Africa, 20-23 July 2000 - scored 23.
38 Tests for Sri Lanka
2679 runs @ 47.00
5 Test centuries
13 Test fifties
97 catches and 14 stumpings
An excellent keeper-batsman, Kumar Sangakkara is currently the No. 3 of the strong Sri Lankan team that demolished England a year ago. He's still alive and kicking for Sri Lanka, but in the League for the Ages series, he is very likely to play at 5 for the Sharks. His highest score, 270, came in the farce of a Test match in Zimbabwe, when the Lankans won both Tests by an innings and dominated everything. No such teams will hopefully be allowed in here - although the Eden Gardens Eagles look like it!
9 Sir John Berry Hobbs
Born 16 December 1882, Cambridge
Played for Surrey, Maharaj Kumar of Vizianagram's XI and England.
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Medium
Test Debut: 2nd Test, Melbourne, Australia v England, 1-7 January 1908 - scored 83 and 28.
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1909, 1926
Knighted 1953
One of five Wisden Cricketers of the Century
61 Tests for England (spanning a massive 22 years)
5410 runs @ 56.94
1 wicket @ 165
15 Test centuries
28 Test fifties
17 catches
Sir Jack Hobbs must surely rank as one of the best batsmen of the 20th century. He's one of the select few to have received the Wisden Cricketer of the Year twice, and with batting statistics like those, who could argue. His Test career lasted an amazing 22 years, and he was a regular feature of the Test team until his 48th year. He played with greats such as Sydney Barnes, Bert Vogler, Stan McCabe, John Ryder, Clarence Grimmett and Donald Bradman. He made 199 first-class centuries, setting a new record by beating WG Grace's 125, he was also a very modest man. The five years of the war set his game back, he said, and despite making huge amounts of runs after it, he claimed that all of them were made of the back foot! Sir Jack will open the innings for Sharjah, as he did so many times for England.
10 Darren Scott Lehmann
Born 5 February 1970, Gawler, South Australia, Australia
Played for South Australia, Victoria, Yorkshire
Left Handed Batsman
Slow Left Arm Orthodox Bowler
Test Debut: 3rd Test, Bangalore, India v Australia, 25-28 March 1998 - scored 52 and took 1/27
18 Tests for Australia
1370 runs @ 52.69
13 wickets @ 21.61
8 catches
Darren Lehmann is a player whose unfortunate "problem" is that he played in an age of great batsmen. The Waugh brothers, Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer, Michael Slater, Gregory Blewett etc. all kept him out of the team for a long while. It wasn't until the Ashes series in 2003 that Lehmann got his feet in the side - and even then he was dropped for Martin Love for the fourth Test. His averages are also highly skewed by two centuries against very impotent Bangladeshis, but Lehmann is a very fine player of spin and will be useful on Sharjah pitches. He's also a fine left-arm spinner, who has claimed among others Mohammad Azharuddin, Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya (twice). The only problem being, of course, that both the first two play for Sharjah - so he won't be able to do that again!
12 Pervez Sajjad Hasan
Born 30 August 1942, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Played for Lahore Cricket Association, Lahore City C.A., Lahore, Pakistan International Airlines, Karachi C.A., Karachi Cricket City A., Pakistan
Right Handed Batsman
Slow Left Arm Orthodox Bowler
Test Debut: Only Test, Karachi, Pakistan v Australia, 24-29 October 1964 - scored 3* and took 1/69
19 Tests for Pakistan
123 runs @ 13.66
59 wickets @ 23.89
3 5-wicket-hauls in an innings
9 catches
Despite having a few Tests, Pervez Sajjad is a very fine left-arm spinner who will spearhead the attack once Barnes and Turner need resting and the ball has worn a bit. His finest moments came in the 1969/70 series between Pakistan and New Zealand, when he was the only Pakistani spinner to claim wickets in the second Test and single-handedly reduced New Zealand from 162/2 to 188/8. Sadly, his 9-wicket-haul in the match didn't help, as he was sadly alone and New Zealand won the match by 5 wickets, and eventually the series by 1-0. Another single-handed effort in the first Test had reduced New Zealand to 92/5 - with Sajjad taking all the wickets - but Pollard and Yuile fended off the other bowlers and batted out for a draw. Nevertheless, Sajjad took 22 wickets in the series, at an average of 15.45.
13 Herschelle Herman Gibbs
Born 23 February 1974, Green Point, Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa
Played for Western Province, South Africa and Durham.
Right Handed Batsman
Test Debut: 2nd Test, Calcutta, South Africa v India, 27 November-1 December 1996 - scored 31 and 9
59 Tests for South Africa
4693 runs @ 49.40
13 Test centuries
17 Test fifties
45 catches
Herschelle Gibbs is a very decent opener who has had success with South Africa in recent years. He started his career very slowly, hitting only two fifties in his first eleven Tests, but forced his way into the scene touring New Zealand in 1999. In the second, drawn Test at Christchurch, he made a massive 221* in a match frequently interrupted by rain, and in the third Test he made 120 and was one of the main contributors in South Africa's 8-wicket win which clinched the series.
14 Ian Raphael Bishop
Born 24 October 1967, Belmont, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad
Played for Trinidad & Tobago, Derbyshire and the West Indies
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Fast Bowler
Test Debut: 1st Test, Georgetown, West Indies v India, 25-30 March 1989 - taking 0/15 and scoring a golden duck in a rained out Test.
43 Tests for West Indies
632 runs @ 12.15
161 wickets @ 24.27
6 5-wicket-hauls in an innings
8 catches
Ian Bishop is another one of the Caribbean fast bowlers that grew up in the age of Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose, Joel Garner, Colin Croft, Courtney Walsh, and what they were all called, that caused the West Indies to dominate world cricket for much of the late 1970s and the 1980s. Sadly, Bishop's career was ground to a halt due to massive back problems, otherwise he could have been written very near the top of the West Indian Hall of Fast Bowler Fame - although he could have done after the 1993 Test series in Australia, when he and Ambrose ran through an Australia line-up consisting of David Boon, Justin Langer, Steve and Mark Waugh, Damien Martyn and Allan Border among others for 119 in the first innings, and then he took 6/40 in the second innings to secure the innings win and a 2-1 series win for West Indies. His best bowling often came towards the end of a series - match figures of 6/117 in a dead rubber of a fourth Test against India, 8/120 in the final Test against England, which West Indies won by an innings and the series 2-1, 7/100 in a drawn Test in Pakistan (where the goal, admittedly, had been to bowl Pakistan out inside 97 overs) and the aforementioned 8/57 in total against Australia. He lost a bit of his pace and danger towards the end of his career, but he was still a fine bowler, and the West Indies would love to have one like him today.
15 Sarfraz Nawaz Malik
Born 1 December 1948, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Played for Lahore C.A., Lahore City C.A., Lahore, Punjab University, Northamptonshire, Punjab, Punjab (India), Railways (Pakistan), United Bank Limited and Pakistan
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Fast Medium Bowler
Test Debut: 3rd Test, Karachi, Pakistan v England, 6-10 March 1969 - taking 0/78
55 Tests for Pakistan
1045 runs @ 17.71
177 wickets @ 32.75
4 Test fifties
4 5-wicket-hauls in an innings
1 10-wicket-haul in a match
One of the bowlers who took Pakistan from walk-over teams together with New Zealand to a force to be reckoned with in world cricket. His test average of 32.75 don't do justice to his real talent, which was hidden due to mood swings and an erratic personality. He proved that talent on the Melbourne Cricket Ground in early March 1979, when he ripped through Australia and took 9 wickets for 86 runs - among them, a spell of seven wickets for a single run from 33 balls! That reduced Australia from a comfortable 305/3 chasing 382 to a 72-run loss - and ensured a drawn series for Pakistan.
16 Mohammad Azharuddin
Born 8 February 1963, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Played for Hyderabad, Hyderabad (India), Derbyshire and India
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Medium Bowler
Test Debut: 3rd Test, Calcutta, India v England, 31 December 1984-5 January 1985 - scoring 110 and becoming the eighth Indian batsman to a hit a century on debut
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1991
99 Tests for India
6215 runs @ 45.03
22 Test centuries
21 Test fifties
105 catches
Mohammad Azharuddin is a highly controversial, but hugely talented Indian batsman who could go from heights to lows in a second. "Azhar" as he was dubbed, could well have been one of the most talented batsmen in the world, if it hadn't been for pure laziness and ignorance. Allegations of match-fixing eventually brought an end to his career, as he ended with only 99 Tests - one short of a full hundred - and a highest score of 199. He also made his mark as Indian captain for nearly ten years (having a short break and handing it to Sachin Tendulkar between the tour of England in 1996 and Australia's tour of India in 1997/98), but the question remains whether he will be good enough to enter this great Sharjah team. He is also the only batsman to have hit centuries in his first three Tests.
17 Mushtaq Mohammad
Born 22 November 1943, Junagadh, Gujarat, India
Played for Karachi C.A., Karachi Cricket City A., Pakistan International Airlines, Northamptonshire, Shropshire, Pakistan.
Right Handed Batsman
Leg Break Googly Bowler
Test Match Debut: 3rd Test, Lahore, Pakistan v West Indies, 26-31 March 1959 - scoring 14 and 4 and taking 0/34.
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1963
57 Tests for Pakistan
3643 runs @ 39.17
79 wickets @ 29.22
10 Test centuries
19 Test fifties
3 five-wicket-hauls in an innings
42 catches
Brother of Hanif and the others who emigrated to Karachi, Mushtaq Mohammad was probably the first genuine all-rounder in the Pakistani side. He was perhaps not the most spectacular of batsmen, nor the most talented, but he usually hung around, and unlike our number 16 Azharuddin actually made a double ton in a Test. He made a 201 in about six and a half hours at Dunedin in 1973, when Pakistan won by an innings and 166 runs and Mushtaq Muhammad tok 7 wickets for 66 - not bad for a spinner in New Zealand.
19 Arjuna Ranatunga
Born 1 December 1963, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Played for Sinhalese S.C. and Sri Lanka
Left Handed Batsman
Right Arm Medium Bowler
Test Match Debut: Only Test, Colombo, Sri Lanka v England, 17-21 February 1982 - scoring 54 and 2.
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1999
93 Tests for Sri Lanka
5105 runs @ 35.69
16 wickets @ 65.00
4 Test centuries
38 Test fifties
47 catches
Arjuna Ranatunga. The name should ring a bell for most cricket fans, despite not being one of the absolute greats of the game. Say "fat" and "captain" and "World Cup 1996", and people start to remember even more. Controversial to the last, and not a particularly great Test cricketer, he also managed to get his brothers into cricket - Dammika and Sanjeeva Ranatunga both played Test cricket, and Sanjeeva had to cope with big brother being captain. He was also notorious for not taking the singles - on account of his large body mass - but still managed to get a higher average in ODI cricket than Test cricket. He also staged a team protest after Muttiah Muralitharan was called for throwing, leading his team off the field.
20 Rumesh Joseph Ratnayake
Born 2 January 1964, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Played for Nondescripts C.C. and Sri Lanka
Right Handed Batsman
Leg Break or Right Arm Fast Medium Bowler
Test Match Debut: 1st Test, Christchurch, New Zealand v Sri Lanka, 4-6 March 1983 - scoring 1 and 0 and taking 3/93
23 Tests for Sri Lanka
433 runs @ 14.43
73 wickets @ 35.10
2 Test fifties
5 5-wicket-hauls in an innings
9 catches
Rumesh Ratnayeke was quite a big talent in his younger days He started his career well, taking 6/85 against India in 1985, but too often went wicketless off the pitch with too many overs. He came to Sharjah because of the owners' inability to draft good players.
21 Sir Conrad Cleophas Hunte
Born 9 May 1932, Greenland Plantation, Shorey's Village, St Andrew, Barbados
Played for Barbados and the West Indies
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Medium Bowler
Test Match Debut: 1st Test, Bridgetown, West Indies v Pakistan, 17-23 January 1958 - scoring 142 and 11* and becoming the fifth West Indian batsman to score a century on debut
44 Tests for West Indies
3245 runs @ 45.60
2 wickets @ 55.00
8 Test centuries
13 Test fifties
16 catches
Sir Conrad Hunte rose from the slum of a house in the Barbadian coast to become one of the finest openers the West Indies have ever produced. A test batsman of the classical mould, he was often the batsman used to anchor the innings just in case the others blew it. Despite this, however, he could be a stroke player, as his debut 142 in five hours on his home ground shows. Sadly, the Sharjah Sharks already have two specialist openers who do rather well at the job, so Conrad Hunte might just be striving for No. 6 or No. 7.
23 Navjot Singh Sidhu
Born 20 October 1963, Patiala, Punjab, India
Played for Punjab, Punjab (India) and India
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Medium Bowler
Test Match Debut: 3rd Test, Ahmedabad, India v West Indies, scoring 15 and 4
51 Tests for India
3202 runs @ 42.13
9 Test centuries
15 Test fifties
9 catches
Perhaps more renowned for today's cricket fans for his commentating goldies than his batting skill, Navjot Sidhu was in fact one of India's better batsmen in the early 1990s. He could be either a defensive player, as in his 11-hour 201 against the West Indies at Port of Spain, or an attacking strokemaker. He was a master of spin bowling, welcoming Shane Warne to India with two sixes at Chennai, and was a highly reliable batsman. He was a very consistent player, usually making half-centuries, and was an excellent timer of the ball.
25 Bhagwat Subramanya Chandrasekhar
Born 17 May 1945 (incidentally, the first national day Norway, where the team manager comes from, could celebrate after WWII), Mysore, Karnataka, India
Played for Mysore, Karnataka and India
Right Handed Batsman
Leg Break Bowler
Test Match Debut: 2nd Test, Bombay, India v England, scoring 0 and taking 5/107 in the match (4/67 in the first innings)
58 Test for India
167 runs @ 4.07
242 wickets @ 29.74
16 5-wicket-hauls in an innings
2 10-wicket-hauls in a match
25 catches
A player of the Neil Pickup mould, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar is a specialist no. 11 who nevertheless bowls good leg-spinners. He was also a match-winner away, something which is very rare in Indian cricket, although he tended to get better figures at home. He did take twice 6/52 at Melbourne to give India their first win over Australia. Chandra is a very unorthodox spinner, giving the ball quite a bit of pace, and extracting a lot of bounce - similar to Shane Warne today - and it has been stated that Chandra bowled a genuine bouncer. He is also one of very few players with more Test wickets than runs!
26 Derrick John McGlew
Born 11 March 1929, Pietermaritzburg, Natal, South Africa
Played for Natal, South Africa
Right Handed Batsman
Leg Break Googly Bowler
Test Match Debut: 1st Test, Nottingham, England v South Africa, 7-12 June 1951 - scored 40 and 5.
34 Tests for South Africa
2440 runs @ 42.06
7 Test centuries
10 Test fifties
18 catches
Jackie McGlew, as he was called, was a gritty and defensive batsman who stuck to the crease well. He made, among others, a nine-hour century against Australia at Durban, which at least helped him to another hundred but probably didn't help the team effort very much - they led by 221 after the first innings but could not bowl Australia out. His highest score, however, was a massive 255* against New Zealand at Wellington, in which he used roughly as much time as in that century. New Zealand were then twice bowled out for 172, and the South Africans took 12 wickets before New Zealand passed McGlew's individual score. He also stood as umpire in the Zimbabwe v New Zealand series in 1992/93.
28 Louis Rohan Duleep Mendis
Born 25 August 1952, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
Played for Sinhalese S.C. and Sri Lanka
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Medium Bowler
Wicket-Keeper
Test Match Debut: Only Test, Colombo, Sri Lanka v England, 17-21 February 1982, scoring 17 and 27.
24 Tests for Sri Lanka
1329 runs @ 31.64
4 Test centuries
8 Test fifties
9 catches
One of the very last players to be drafted, Duleep Mendis was nevertheless instrumental to Sri Lanka's early progress as a Test nation. He captained the side from their third Test until Ranjun Madugalle took over in 1988, and he enjoyed moderate success, beating India in 1985/86 while scoring 310 runs at a very healthy average of 62. Mendis also led them to a Test win over Pakistan in 1985/86, despite only contributing with a 5 to the team cause.
29 Saeed Anwar
Born 6 September 1968, Karachi, Sind, Pakistan
Played for Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan, Karachi Cricket Association, Karachi Cricket City Association, United Bank Limited, Lahore Cricket Association, Lahore City Cricket Association, Lahore and Pakistan
Left Handed Batsman
Slow Left Arm Bowler
Test Match Debut: 2nd Test, Faisalabad, Pakistan v West Indies, 23-25 November 1990 - scoring two ducks while facing a total of 8 balls in eleven minutes.
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1997
55 Tests for Pakistan
4052 runs @ 45.52
11 Test centuries
25 Test fifties
18 catches
Yet another opener, Saeed Anwar usually played well as a strokeplayer, but could struggle with balls that swung out and edge them to the gully region. When he didn't, though, balls outside the off stump more often than not found themselves rolling to the point or cover boundary, and he was not a batsman you would like to throw pies at. Nevertheless, he had his weaknesses, mainly in his footwork and his particularly weak fielding. He was strong enough in his batting, however, to become Wisden Cricketer of the Year - probably because of his 194 from only 146 balls at Chennai against India, the highest score in a ODI to date. What made it even more amazing was that he required a runner, Shahid Afridi, and he was not fit enough to field.
ODIs:
2 Michael Gwyl Bevan
Born 8 May 1970, Belconnen, Australia Capital Territory, Australia
Played for Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Yorkshire, Sussex and Leicestershire
Left Hand Batsman
Slow Left Arm Chinaman Bowler
ODI Debut: Australasia Cup, Sharjah, Australia v Sri Lanka, 14 April 1994 - neither batted nor bowled, took two catches
232 ODIs for Australia
6912 ODI runs @ 53.58 and a strike rate of 74.16
6 ODI centuries
46 ODI fifties
36 ODI wickets @ 45.97 and an economy rate of 5.05
69 ODI catches
Michael Bevan is arguably one of the great ODI players of the 1990s, and possibly of all time. He certainly is in terms of averages, leading #2 Zaheer Abbas by a margin of six runs per wicket. However, Thilan Samaraweera is also a great in terms of averages, so that obviously doesn't say a lot. What does say something, however, is his fine way of accumulating runs in the very last overs of an ODI. Batting at five or six in arguably the best ODI line-up ever seen, Bevan usually come in with a fine platform to build on, and then smacks the bowlers for singles all over the place. At Sharjah, however, he will face the task of batting much higher up the order, as he is clearly one of the few skilled batsmen.
4 Anthony Hollis Gray
Born 23 May 1963, Belmont, Port of Spain, Trinidad, Trinidad & Tobago
Played for Trinidad & Tobago, Western Transvaal, Surrey and the West Indies
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Fast Bowler
ODI Debut: Sharjah Cup, 1st Match, Sharjah, West Indies v Pakistan, 15 November 1985 - took 1/32 in 8 overs with a maiden
25 ODIs for West Indies
51 ODI runs @ 8.50 with a strike rate of 66.23
44 ODI wickets @ 18.97 and an economy rate of 3.94
2 ODI 4-wicket-hauls
1 ODI 5-wicket-haul
3 ODI catches
With an undeserved reputation as a "stat muppet", Tony Gray ranks among the more unlucky cricketers fostered by the West Indies. Gray was a right-arm fast bowler who plied his trade when almost every cricket player in the West Indies bowled faster than the current stock. He worked his way into the ODI team slowly but surely, and eventually became a regular part of the team. His career was hampered by injuries, though, and he was dropped after a tour of New Zealand where he hardly bowled more than Michael Holding - though with considerably more success, taking 8 wickets at a rate of 18.75 each!
7 Andrew Flower
Born 28 April 1968, Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa
Played for Zimbabwe, Mashonaland, Marylebone Cricket Club, Essex and South Australia
Left Handed Batsman
Right Arm Off Break Bowler
Wicket-keeper
ODI debut: World Cup, 3rd Match, New Plymouth (New Zealand), Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka, 23 February 1992 - scored 115 not out from 152 balls, carrying his bat, and taking one catch.
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2002
213 ODIs for Zimbabwe
6786 runs @ 35.34 and a strike rate of 74.60
4 ODI centuries
55 ODI fifties
ODI economy rate of 4.60
141 ODI catches
32 ODI stumpings
How unfortunate that the Zimbabweans didn't take part in the first League for the Ages. Otherwise, Andy would have been a key player in both Tests and ODIs for Sharjah. He was about the only Zimbabwean batsman with any reasonable claim to be Test standard, and his wicket-keeping was an added bonus (although, sometimes, it would seem like the opposite). His last act as a Zimbabwe player would probably his most courageous - he wore black armbands, together with team-mate Henry Olonga, throughout the 2003 World Cup to mourn "the death of democracy" in Zimbabwe. The pair of them later quit the team, and were followed a year later by 15 former internationals after a quarrel about captaincy and selection policy.
8 Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara
Born 27 October 1977, Matale, Sri Lanka
Played for Nondescripts C.C. and Sri Lanka
Left Handed Batsman
Right Arm Off Break Bowler
Wicket-keeper
ODI Debut: Singer Tri-Series, Galle, 1st Match, Sri Lanka v Pakistan, 5 July 2000 - hit 35 from 55 balls and took one catch
105 ODIs for Sri Lanka
2556 ODI runs @ 31.17 and a strike rate of 70.43
3 ODI centuries
12 ODI fifties
86 ODI catches
22 ODI stumpings
Another wicket-keeper who was mainly selected for Test matches, Kumar Sangakkara have nevertheless enjoyed some success in the ODI arena. However, after the 2003 World Cup, he had to drop the gloves, as the selectors felt he wasn't performing quite as good as he could. At the 2003 Sharjah Cup, just after giving up the gloves to Prasantha Jayawardene, he hit two not-out centuries - 100* from only 111 balls in a losing cause against Pakistan, and 103* from 108 balls to send Kenya down the drain. He followed that up with another ton in the 4th match against Australia, where he was the only one to withstand the fine display of line-and-length bowling from Mike Kasprowicz, who took 5/45 in the match. Sangakkara ended up scoring 101 of the team's 193 runs...and still lost the series, although this time with the gloves.
10 Darren Scott Lehmann
Born 5 February 1970, Gawler, South Australia, Australia
Played for South Australia, Victoria, Yorkshire and Australia
Left Handed Batsman
Slow Left Arm Orthodox Bowler
ODI Debut: World Series, 3rd Match, Colombo, Sri Lanka v Australia, 30 August 1996 - scored 2 from 4 balls, took 0/26 from 6 overs
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2001
102 ODIs for Australia
2781 ODI runs @ 39.72 and a strike rate of 82.27
4 ODI centuries
15 ODI fifties
42 ODI wickets @ 25.69 and an economy rate of 4.74
1 ODI 4-wicket-haul
As said in the Test section, he's another of those unlucky players who has got enough talent but just have some players who are even better at the time. He prospers against spin especially, but can he handle the consistent fine bowling that will be fired at him during the League for the Ages? His finest ODI knocks - 119 at Perth against Sri Lanka, and 107 and 110* at St George's against the West Indies - have all come against decidedly sub-par bowling attacks headed by Chaminda Vaas, Chris Gayle and Reon King respectively.
13 Herschelle Herman Gibbs
Born 23 February 1974, Green Point, Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa
Played for Western Province, South Africa and Durham
Right Handed Batsman
ODI Debut: KCA Centenary Tournament, 5th Match, Nairobi Gymkhana, Kenya v South Africa, 3 October 1996 - scored 17 from 22 balls
149 ODIs for South Africa
4726 ODI runs @ 34.49 and a strike rate of 81.83
12 ODI centuries
19 ODI fifties
60 ODI catches
Being one short of the South African record of thirteen ODI centuries, Herschelle Gibbs is nevertheless one of the players with the most centuries in the Sharjah. His highest ODI score is a massive 153 at Potchefstroom - admittedly against bowlers of the like of Talha Jubair and Tapash Baisya - but he's also hit 143 from 141 balls in a World Cup match against a New Zealand team featuring Shane Bond, Andre Adams, Scott Styris and Daniel Vettori. Several lean spells have however brought his his average down - particularly the NatWest Series in England, where he could only hit 117 runs in 7 matches - and one of them was 93 not out against Zimbabwe.
14 Ian Raphael Bishop
Born 24 October 1967, Belmont, Port of Spain, Trinidad, Trinidad & Tobago
Played for Trinidad & Tobago, Derbyshire and the West Indies
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Fast Bowler
ODI Debut: Texaco Trophy, 2nd ODI, Leeds, England v West Indies, 21 May 1988, hit 2 not out and took 2/32 from 11 overs with 1 maiden.
84 ODIs for West Indies
405 ODI runs @ 16.20 with a strike rate of 55.47
118 ODI wickets @ 26.50 with an economy rate of 4.33
7 ODI 4-wicket-hauls
2 ODI 5-wicket-hauls
12 ODI catches
Very similar to our number four, is Ian Bishop. Born on the same spot, both bowling fast, both hampered by injuries. And indeed, Ian kept Tony Gray out of the team for most of the early 1990s, when a bowler like Gray would be in his prime. When his back didn't break, he was also a reasonably good bowler, usually keeping the rate down while taking wickets as well. His destructions of the Pakistanis in Australia - 5/27 to nearly bowl them out for 140 in January 1989, 5/25 to aid in their 72 all out in January 1993, and 4/38 to send them all out for 197 in January 1997 - came with remarkable regularity, and have to rank as his best bowling efforts in one-dayers. Bishop is unlikely to bowl in the team, at best being 5th or 6th best of the the bowlers, but his pace might come in useful on the relatively bouncy and dry Sharjah pitches.
15 Sarfraz Nawaz Malik
16 Mohammad Azharuddin
18 Daryll John Cullinan
19 Arjuna Ranatunga
20 Rumesh Joseph Ratnayeke
22 Simon Peter Davis
23 Navjot Singh Sidhu
24 Craig Russell Matthews
26 Michael Scott Kasprowicz
27 Michael Robert John Veletta
28 Louis Rohan Duleep Mendis
29 Saeed Anwar
30 Wavell Wayne Hinds
Note: Incomplete - as yet. Will try to do the rest of the test team at least later. Squad numbers were assigned in order of drafting.
1 Sydney Francis Barnes
Born 19 April 1873, Smethwick, Staffordshire, England
Played for Warwickshire, Lancashire, Wales and England
Right Handed Batsman
Test Debut: 1st Test, Sydney, Australia v England, 13-16 December 1901 - Took 6/139 and scored 26*.
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1910
27 Tests for England
242 runs @ 8.06
189 wickets @ 16.43
24 5-wicket-hauls in an innings
7 10-wicket-hauls in a match
12 catches
An excellent bowler, and one who should be in most All-time XIs. Although no video footage is available from the early 1900s, he is rumoured to have bowled both swing and spin with the same ball. He also held the record for most wickets in a Test match until Jim Laker came along - the record, set at Johannesburg in 1913, was 17 wickets for only 159 runs. Of course, his statistics might have been slightly skewed by the fact that pitches were different in those days - we may never know.
3 Charles Stewart Dempster
Born 15 November 1903, Wellington, New Zealand
Played for Wellington, Scotland, Leicestershire, Warwickshire and New Zealand
Right Handed Batsman
Test Debut: 1st Test, Christchurch, New Zealand v England, 10-13 January 1930 - scored 11 and 25, bowling the final over of the game and ending with figures of 0/10
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1932
10 Tests for New Zealand
723 runs @ 65.72
2 Test centuries
5 Test fifties
2 catches
Despite only playing ten Test matches, Charles Dempster ranks among the finest batsmen produced by New Zealand. He played very well against the slow bowlers in particular, with excellent footwork and a strong player of the offside. He allegedly did not receive any coaching until he arrived in England in 1927 - and only three years later, he played his first Test.
5 Charles Thomas Biass Turner
Born 16 November 1862, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia
Played for New South Wales and Australia
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Medium Fast Bowler
Test Debut: 1st Test, Sydney, Australia v England, 28-31 January 1887 - took 8/68 in the match, among them an opening stint of 18 overs with 6/15 which reduced England to 45 all out
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1889
17 Tests for Australia
323 runs @ 11.53
101 wickets @ 16.53
11 5-wicket-hauls in an innings
2 10-wicket-hauls in a match
8 catches
Charles Turner is another of the late 19th-century great cricketers. He usually opened the bowling with John James Ferris - a left-arm swing bowler - who eventually gave up his Australian career, and moved to England. Both tended to take wickets at an insane average, and despite the clear bowler advantage during these times, Turner must have been a somewhat special bowler.
8 Kumar Chokshanada Sangakarra
Born 27 October 1977, Matale, Sri Lanka
Played for Nondescripts and Sri Lanka
Left Handed Batsman
Wicket-keeper
Test Debut: 1st Test, Galle, Sri Lanka v South Africa, 20-23 July 2000 - scored 23.
38 Tests for Sri Lanka
2679 runs @ 47.00
5 Test centuries
13 Test fifties
97 catches and 14 stumpings
An excellent keeper-batsman, Kumar Sangakkara is currently the No. 3 of the strong Sri Lankan team that demolished England a year ago. He's still alive and kicking for Sri Lanka, but in the League for the Ages series, he is very likely to play at 5 for the Sharks. His highest score, 270, came in the farce of a Test match in Zimbabwe, when the Lankans won both Tests by an innings and dominated everything. No such teams will hopefully be allowed in here - although the Eden Gardens Eagles look like it!
9 Sir John Berry Hobbs
Born 16 December 1882, Cambridge
Played for Surrey, Maharaj Kumar of Vizianagram's XI and England.
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Medium
Test Debut: 2nd Test, Melbourne, Australia v England, 1-7 January 1908 - scored 83 and 28.
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1909, 1926
Knighted 1953
One of five Wisden Cricketers of the Century
61 Tests for England (spanning a massive 22 years)
5410 runs @ 56.94
1 wicket @ 165
15 Test centuries
28 Test fifties
17 catches
Sir Jack Hobbs must surely rank as one of the best batsmen of the 20th century. He's one of the select few to have received the Wisden Cricketer of the Year twice, and with batting statistics like those, who could argue. His Test career lasted an amazing 22 years, and he was a regular feature of the Test team until his 48th year. He played with greats such as Sydney Barnes, Bert Vogler, Stan McCabe, John Ryder, Clarence Grimmett and Donald Bradman. He made 199 first-class centuries, setting a new record by beating WG Grace's 125, he was also a very modest man. The five years of the war set his game back, he said, and despite making huge amounts of runs after it, he claimed that all of them were made of the back foot! Sir Jack will open the innings for Sharjah, as he did so many times for England.
10 Darren Scott Lehmann
Born 5 February 1970, Gawler, South Australia, Australia
Played for South Australia, Victoria, Yorkshire
Left Handed Batsman
Slow Left Arm Orthodox Bowler
Test Debut: 3rd Test, Bangalore, India v Australia, 25-28 March 1998 - scored 52 and took 1/27
18 Tests for Australia
1370 runs @ 52.69
13 wickets @ 21.61
8 catches
Darren Lehmann is a player whose unfortunate "problem" is that he played in an age of great batsmen. The Waugh brothers, Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer, Michael Slater, Gregory Blewett etc. all kept him out of the team for a long while. It wasn't until the Ashes series in 2003 that Lehmann got his feet in the side - and even then he was dropped for Martin Love for the fourth Test. His averages are also highly skewed by two centuries against very impotent Bangladeshis, but Lehmann is a very fine player of spin and will be useful on Sharjah pitches. He's also a fine left-arm spinner, who has claimed among others Mohammad Azharuddin, Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya (twice). The only problem being, of course, that both the first two play for Sharjah - so he won't be able to do that again!
12 Pervez Sajjad Hasan
Born 30 August 1942, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Played for Lahore Cricket Association, Lahore City C.A., Lahore, Pakistan International Airlines, Karachi C.A., Karachi Cricket City A., Pakistan
Right Handed Batsman
Slow Left Arm Orthodox Bowler
Test Debut: Only Test, Karachi, Pakistan v Australia, 24-29 October 1964 - scored 3* and took 1/69
19 Tests for Pakistan
123 runs @ 13.66
59 wickets @ 23.89
3 5-wicket-hauls in an innings
9 catches
Despite having a few Tests, Pervez Sajjad is a very fine left-arm spinner who will spearhead the attack once Barnes and Turner need resting and the ball has worn a bit. His finest moments came in the 1969/70 series between Pakistan and New Zealand, when he was the only Pakistani spinner to claim wickets in the second Test and single-handedly reduced New Zealand from 162/2 to 188/8. Sadly, his 9-wicket-haul in the match didn't help, as he was sadly alone and New Zealand won the match by 5 wickets, and eventually the series by 1-0. Another single-handed effort in the first Test had reduced New Zealand to 92/5 - with Sajjad taking all the wickets - but Pollard and Yuile fended off the other bowlers and batted out for a draw. Nevertheless, Sajjad took 22 wickets in the series, at an average of 15.45.
13 Herschelle Herman Gibbs
Born 23 February 1974, Green Point, Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa
Played for Western Province, South Africa and Durham.
Right Handed Batsman
Test Debut: 2nd Test, Calcutta, South Africa v India, 27 November-1 December 1996 - scored 31 and 9
59 Tests for South Africa
4693 runs @ 49.40
13 Test centuries
17 Test fifties
45 catches
Herschelle Gibbs is a very decent opener who has had success with South Africa in recent years. He started his career very slowly, hitting only two fifties in his first eleven Tests, but forced his way into the scene touring New Zealand in 1999. In the second, drawn Test at Christchurch, he made a massive 221* in a match frequently interrupted by rain, and in the third Test he made 120 and was one of the main contributors in South Africa's 8-wicket win which clinched the series.
14 Ian Raphael Bishop
Born 24 October 1967, Belmont, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad
Played for Trinidad & Tobago, Derbyshire and the West Indies
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Fast Bowler
Test Debut: 1st Test, Georgetown, West Indies v India, 25-30 March 1989 - taking 0/15 and scoring a golden duck in a rained out Test.
43 Tests for West Indies
632 runs @ 12.15
161 wickets @ 24.27
6 5-wicket-hauls in an innings
8 catches
Ian Bishop is another one of the Caribbean fast bowlers that grew up in the age of Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose, Joel Garner, Colin Croft, Courtney Walsh, and what they were all called, that caused the West Indies to dominate world cricket for much of the late 1970s and the 1980s. Sadly, Bishop's career was ground to a halt due to massive back problems, otherwise he could have been written very near the top of the West Indian Hall of Fast Bowler Fame - although he could have done after the 1993 Test series in Australia, when he and Ambrose ran through an Australia line-up consisting of David Boon, Justin Langer, Steve and Mark Waugh, Damien Martyn and Allan Border among others for 119 in the first innings, and then he took 6/40 in the second innings to secure the innings win and a 2-1 series win for West Indies. His best bowling often came towards the end of a series - match figures of 6/117 in a dead rubber of a fourth Test against India, 8/120 in the final Test against England, which West Indies won by an innings and the series 2-1, 7/100 in a drawn Test in Pakistan (where the goal, admittedly, had been to bowl Pakistan out inside 97 overs) and the aforementioned 8/57 in total against Australia. He lost a bit of his pace and danger towards the end of his career, but he was still a fine bowler, and the West Indies would love to have one like him today.
15 Sarfraz Nawaz Malik
Born 1 December 1948, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Played for Lahore C.A., Lahore City C.A., Lahore, Punjab University, Northamptonshire, Punjab, Punjab (India), Railways (Pakistan), United Bank Limited and Pakistan
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Fast Medium Bowler
Test Debut: 3rd Test, Karachi, Pakistan v England, 6-10 March 1969 - taking 0/78
55 Tests for Pakistan
1045 runs @ 17.71
177 wickets @ 32.75
4 Test fifties
4 5-wicket-hauls in an innings
1 10-wicket-haul in a match
One of the bowlers who took Pakistan from walk-over teams together with New Zealand to a force to be reckoned with in world cricket. His test average of 32.75 don't do justice to his real talent, which was hidden due to mood swings and an erratic personality. He proved that talent on the Melbourne Cricket Ground in early March 1979, when he ripped through Australia and took 9 wickets for 86 runs - among them, a spell of seven wickets for a single run from 33 balls! That reduced Australia from a comfortable 305/3 chasing 382 to a 72-run loss - and ensured a drawn series for Pakistan.
16 Mohammad Azharuddin
Born 8 February 1963, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Played for Hyderabad, Hyderabad (India), Derbyshire and India
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Medium Bowler
Test Debut: 3rd Test, Calcutta, India v England, 31 December 1984-5 January 1985 - scoring 110 and becoming the eighth Indian batsman to a hit a century on debut
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1991
99 Tests for India
6215 runs @ 45.03
22 Test centuries
21 Test fifties
105 catches
Mohammad Azharuddin is a highly controversial, but hugely talented Indian batsman who could go from heights to lows in a second. "Azhar" as he was dubbed, could well have been one of the most talented batsmen in the world, if it hadn't been for pure laziness and ignorance. Allegations of match-fixing eventually brought an end to his career, as he ended with only 99 Tests - one short of a full hundred - and a highest score of 199. He also made his mark as Indian captain for nearly ten years (having a short break and handing it to Sachin Tendulkar between the tour of England in 1996 and Australia's tour of India in 1997/98), but the question remains whether he will be good enough to enter this great Sharjah team. He is also the only batsman to have hit centuries in his first three Tests.
17 Mushtaq Mohammad
Born 22 November 1943, Junagadh, Gujarat, India
Played for Karachi C.A., Karachi Cricket City A., Pakistan International Airlines, Northamptonshire, Shropshire, Pakistan.
Right Handed Batsman
Leg Break Googly Bowler
Test Match Debut: 3rd Test, Lahore, Pakistan v West Indies, 26-31 March 1959 - scoring 14 and 4 and taking 0/34.
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1963
57 Tests for Pakistan
3643 runs @ 39.17
79 wickets @ 29.22
10 Test centuries
19 Test fifties
3 five-wicket-hauls in an innings
42 catches
Brother of Hanif and the others who emigrated to Karachi, Mushtaq Mohammad was probably the first genuine all-rounder in the Pakistani side. He was perhaps not the most spectacular of batsmen, nor the most talented, but he usually hung around, and unlike our number 16 Azharuddin actually made a double ton in a Test. He made a 201 in about six and a half hours at Dunedin in 1973, when Pakistan won by an innings and 166 runs and Mushtaq Muhammad tok 7 wickets for 66 - not bad for a spinner in New Zealand.
19 Arjuna Ranatunga
Born 1 December 1963, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Played for Sinhalese S.C. and Sri Lanka
Left Handed Batsman
Right Arm Medium Bowler
Test Match Debut: Only Test, Colombo, Sri Lanka v England, 17-21 February 1982 - scoring 54 and 2.
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1999
93 Tests for Sri Lanka
5105 runs @ 35.69
16 wickets @ 65.00
4 Test centuries
38 Test fifties
47 catches
Arjuna Ranatunga. The name should ring a bell for most cricket fans, despite not being one of the absolute greats of the game. Say "fat" and "captain" and "World Cup 1996", and people start to remember even more. Controversial to the last, and not a particularly great Test cricketer, he also managed to get his brothers into cricket - Dammika and Sanjeeva Ranatunga both played Test cricket, and Sanjeeva had to cope with big brother being captain. He was also notorious for not taking the singles - on account of his large body mass - but still managed to get a higher average in ODI cricket than Test cricket. He also staged a team protest after Muttiah Muralitharan was called for throwing, leading his team off the field.
20 Rumesh Joseph Ratnayake
Born 2 January 1964, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Played for Nondescripts C.C. and Sri Lanka
Right Handed Batsman
Leg Break or Right Arm Fast Medium Bowler
Test Match Debut: 1st Test, Christchurch, New Zealand v Sri Lanka, 4-6 March 1983 - scoring 1 and 0 and taking 3/93
23 Tests for Sri Lanka
433 runs @ 14.43
73 wickets @ 35.10
2 Test fifties
5 5-wicket-hauls in an innings
9 catches
Rumesh Ratnayeke was quite a big talent in his younger days He started his career well, taking 6/85 against India in 1985, but too often went wicketless off the pitch with too many overs. He came to Sharjah because of the owners' inability to draft good players.
21 Sir Conrad Cleophas Hunte
Born 9 May 1932, Greenland Plantation, Shorey's Village, St Andrew, Barbados
Played for Barbados and the West Indies
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Medium Bowler
Test Match Debut: 1st Test, Bridgetown, West Indies v Pakistan, 17-23 January 1958 - scoring 142 and 11* and becoming the fifth West Indian batsman to score a century on debut
44 Tests for West Indies
3245 runs @ 45.60
2 wickets @ 55.00
8 Test centuries
13 Test fifties
16 catches
Sir Conrad Hunte rose from the slum of a house in the Barbadian coast to become one of the finest openers the West Indies have ever produced. A test batsman of the classical mould, he was often the batsman used to anchor the innings just in case the others blew it. Despite this, however, he could be a stroke player, as his debut 142 in five hours on his home ground shows. Sadly, the Sharjah Sharks already have two specialist openers who do rather well at the job, so Conrad Hunte might just be striving for No. 6 or No. 7.
23 Navjot Singh Sidhu
Born 20 October 1963, Patiala, Punjab, India
Played for Punjab, Punjab (India) and India
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Medium Bowler
Test Match Debut: 3rd Test, Ahmedabad, India v West Indies, scoring 15 and 4
51 Tests for India
3202 runs @ 42.13
9 Test centuries
15 Test fifties
9 catches
Perhaps more renowned for today's cricket fans for his commentating goldies than his batting skill, Navjot Sidhu was in fact one of India's better batsmen in the early 1990s. He could be either a defensive player, as in his 11-hour 201 against the West Indies at Port of Spain, or an attacking strokemaker. He was a master of spin bowling, welcoming Shane Warne to India with two sixes at Chennai, and was a highly reliable batsman. He was a very consistent player, usually making half-centuries, and was an excellent timer of the ball.
25 Bhagwat Subramanya Chandrasekhar
Born 17 May 1945 (incidentally, the first national day Norway, where the team manager comes from, could celebrate after WWII), Mysore, Karnataka, India
Played for Mysore, Karnataka and India
Right Handed Batsman
Leg Break Bowler
Test Match Debut: 2nd Test, Bombay, India v England, scoring 0 and taking 5/107 in the match (4/67 in the first innings)
58 Test for India
167 runs @ 4.07
242 wickets @ 29.74
16 5-wicket-hauls in an innings
2 10-wicket-hauls in a match
25 catches
A player of the Neil Pickup mould, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar is a specialist no. 11 who nevertheless bowls good leg-spinners. He was also a match-winner away, something which is very rare in Indian cricket, although he tended to get better figures at home. He did take twice 6/52 at Melbourne to give India their first win over Australia. Chandra is a very unorthodox spinner, giving the ball quite a bit of pace, and extracting a lot of bounce - similar to Shane Warne today - and it has been stated that Chandra bowled a genuine bouncer. He is also one of very few players with more Test wickets than runs!
26 Derrick John McGlew
Born 11 March 1929, Pietermaritzburg, Natal, South Africa
Played for Natal, South Africa
Right Handed Batsman
Leg Break Googly Bowler
Test Match Debut: 1st Test, Nottingham, England v South Africa, 7-12 June 1951 - scored 40 and 5.
34 Tests for South Africa
2440 runs @ 42.06
7 Test centuries
10 Test fifties
18 catches
Jackie McGlew, as he was called, was a gritty and defensive batsman who stuck to the crease well. He made, among others, a nine-hour century against Australia at Durban, which at least helped him to another hundred but probably didn't help the team effort very much - they led by 221 after the first innings but could not bowl Australia out. His highest score, however, was a massive 255* against New Zealand at Wellington, in which he used roughly as much time as in that century. New Zealand were then twice bowled out for 172, and the South Africans took 12 wickets before New Zealand passed McGlew's individual score. He also stood as umpire in the Zimbabwe v New Zealand series in 1992/93.
28 Louis Rohan Duleep Mendis
Born 25 August 1952, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
Played for Sinhalese S.C. and Sri Lanka
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Medium Bowler
Wicket-Keeper
Test Match Debut: Only Test, Colombo, Sri Lanka v England, 17-21 February 1982, scoring 17 and 27.
24 Tests for Sri Lanka
1329 runs @ 31.64
4 Test centuries
8 Test fifties
9 catches
One of the very last players to be drafted, Duleep Mendis was nevertheless instrumental to Sri Lanka's early progress as a Test nation. He captained the side from their third Test until Ranjun Madugalle took over in 1988, and he enjoyed moderate success, beating India in 1985/86 while scoring 310 runs at a very healthy average of 62. Mendis also led them to a Test win over Pakistan in 1985/86, despite only contributing with a 5 to the team cause.
29 Saeed Anwar
Born 6 September 1968, Karachi, Sind, Pakistan
Played for Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan, Karachi Cricket Association, Karachi Cricket City Association, United Bank Limited, Lahore Cricket Association, Lahore City Cricket Association, Lahore and Pakistan
Left Handed Batsman
Slow Left Arm Bowler
Test Match Debut: 2nd Test, Faisalabad, Pakistan v West Indies, 23-25 November 1990 - scoring two ducks while facing a total of 8 balls in eleven minutes.
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1997
55 Tests for Pakistan
4052 runs @ 45.52
11 Test centuries
25 Test fifties
18 catches
Yet another opener, Saeed Anwar usually played well as a strokeplayer, but could struggle with balls that swung out and edge them to the gully region. When he didn't, though, balls outside the off stump more often than not found themselves rolling to the point or cover boundary, and he was not a batsman you would like to throw pies at. Nevertheless, he had his weaknesses, mainly in his footwork and his particularly weak fielding. He was strong enough in his batting, however, to become Wisden Cricketer of the Year - probably because of his 194 from only 146 balls at Chennai against India, the highest score in a ODI to date. What made it even more amazing was that he required a runner, Shahid Afridi, and he was not fit enough to field.
ODIs:
2 Michael Gwyl Bevan
Born 8 May 1970, Belconnen, Australia Capital Territory, Australia
Played for Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Yorkshire, Sussex and Leicestershire
Left Hand Batsman
Slow Left Arm Chinaman Bowler
ODI Debut: Australasia Cup, Sharjah, Australia v Sri Lanka, 14 April 1994 - neither batted nor bowled, took two catches
232 ODIs for Australia
6912 ODI runs @ 53.58 and a strike rate of 74.16
6 ODI centuries
46 ODI fifties
36 ODI wickets @ 45.97 and an economy rate of 5.05
69 ODI catches
Michael Bevan is arguably one of the great ODI players of the 1990s, and possibly of all time. He certainly is in terms of averages, leading #2 Zaheer Abbas by a margin of six runs per wicket. However, Thilan Samaraweera is also a great in terms of averages, so that obviously doesn't say a lot. What does say something, however, is his fine way of accumulating runs in the very last overs of an ODI. Batting at five or six in arguably the best ODI line-up ever seen, Bevan usually come in with a fine platform to build on, and then smacks the bowlers for singles all over the place. At Sharjah, however, he will face the task of batting much higher up the order, as he is clearly one of the few skilled batsmen.
4 Anthony Hollis Gray
Born 23 May 1963, Belmont, Port of Spain, Trinidad, Trinidad & Tobago
Played for Trinidad & Tobago, Western Transvaal, Surrey and the West Indies
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Fast Bowler
ODI Debut: Sharjah Cup, 1st Match, Sharjah, West Indies v Pakistan, 15 November 1985 - took 1/32 in 8 overs with a maiden
25 ODIs for West Indies
51 ODI runs @ 8.50 with a strike rate of 66.23
44 ODI wickets @ 18.97 and an economy rate of 3.94
2 ODI 4-wicket-hauls
1 ODI 5-wicket-haul
3 ODI catches
With an undeserved reputation as a "stat muppet", Tony Gray ranks among the more unlucky cricketers fostered by the West Indies. Gray was a right-arm fast bowler who plied his trade when almost every cricket player in the West Indies bowled faster than the current stock. He worked his way into the ODI team slowly but surely, and eventually became a regular part of the team. His career was hampered by injuries, though, and he was dropped after a tour of New Zealand where he hardly bowled more than Michael Holding - though with considerably more success, taking 8 wickets at a rate of 18.75 each!
7 Andrew Flower
Born 28 April 1968, Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa
Played for Zimbabwe, Mashonaland, Marylebone Cricket Club, Essex and South Australia
Left Handed Batsman
Right Arm Off Break Bowler
Wicket-keeper
ODI debut: World Cup, 3rd Match, New Plymouth (New Zealand), Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka, 23 February 1992 - scored 115 not out from 152 balls, carrying his bat, and taking one catch.
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2002
213 ODIs for Zimbabwe
6786 runs @ 35.34 and a strike rate of 74.60
4 ODI centuries
55 ODI fifties
ODI economy rate of 4.60
141 ODI catches
32 ODI stumpings
How unfortunate that the Zimbabweans didn't take part in the first League for the Ages. Otherwise, Andy would have been a key player in both Tests and ODIs for Sharjah. He was about the only Zimbabwean batsman with any reasonable claim to be Test standard, and his wicket-keeping was an added bonus (although, sometimes, it would seem like the opposite). His last act as a Zimbabwe player would probably his most courageous - he wore black armbands, together with team-mate Henry Olonga, throughout the 2003 World Cup to mourn "the death of democracy" in Zimbabwe. The pair of them later quit the team, and were followed a year later by 15 former internationals after a quarrel about captaincy and selection policy.
8 Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara
Born 27 October 1977, Matale, Sri Lanka
Played for Nondescripts C.C. and Sri Lanka
Left Handed Batsman
Right Arm Off Break Bowler
Wicket-keeper
ODI Debut: Singer Tri-Series, Galle, 1st Match, Sri Lanka v Pakistan, 5 July 2000 - hit 35 from 55 balls and took one catch
105 ODIs for Sri Lanka
2556 ODI runs @ 31.17 and a strike rate of 70.43
3 ODI centuries
12 ODI fifties
86 ODI catches
22 ODI stumpings
Another wicket-keeper who was mainly selected for Test matches, Kumar Sangakkara have nevertheless enjoyed some success in the ODI arena. However, after the 2003 World Cup, he had to drop the gloves, as the selectors felt he wasn't performing quite as good as he could. At the 2003 Sharjah Cup, just after giving up the gloves to Prasantha Jayawardene, he hit two not-out centuries - 100* from only 111 balls in a losing cause against Pakistan, and 103* from 108 balls to send Kenya down the drain. He followed that up with another ton in the 4th match against Australia, where he was the only one to withstand the fine display of line-and-length bowling from Mike Kasprowicz, who took 5/45 in the match. Sangakkara ended up scoring 101 of the team's 193 runs...and still lost the series, although this time with the gloves.
10 Darren Scott Lehmann
Born 5 February 1970, Gawler, South Australia, Australia
Played for South Australia, Victoria, Yorkshire and Australia
Left Handed Batsman
Slow Left Arm Orthodox Bowler
ODI Debut: World Series, 3rd Match, Colombo, Sri Lanka v Australia, 30 August 1996 - scored 2 from 4 balls, took 0/26 from 6 overs
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2001
102 ODIs for Australia
2781 ODI runs @ 39.72 and a strike rate of 82.27
4 ODI centuries
15 ODI fifties
42 ODI wickets @ 25.69 and an economy rate of 4.74
1 ODI 4-wicket-haul
As said in the Test section, he's another of those unlucky players who has got enough talent but just have some players who are even better at the time. He prospers against spin especially, but can he handle the consistent fine bowling that will be fired at him during the League for the Ages? His finest ODI knocks - 119 at Perth against Sri Lanka, and 107 and 110* at St George's against the West Indies - have all come against decidedly sub-par bowling attacks headed by Chaminda Vaas, Chris Gayle and Reon King respectively.
13 Herschelle Herman Gibbs
Born 23 February 1974, Green Point, Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa
Played for Western Province, South Africa and Durham
Right Handed Batsman
ODI Debut: KCA Centenary Tournament, 5th Match, Nairobi Gymkhana, Kenya v South Africa, 3 October 1996 - scored 17 from 22 balls
149 ODIs for South Africa
4726 ODI runs @ 34.49 and a strike rate of 81.83
12 ODI centuries
19 ODI fifties
60 ODI catches
Being one short of the South African record of thirteen ODI centuries, Herschelle Gibbs is nevertheless one of the players with the most centuries in the Sharjah. His highest ODI score is a massive 153 at Potchefstroom - admittedly against bowlers of the like of Talha Jubair and Tapash Baisya - but he's also hit 143 from 141 balls in a World Cup match against a New Zealand team featuring Shane Bond, Andre Adams, Scott Styris and Daniel Vettori. Several lean spells have however brought his his average down - particularly the NatWest Series in England, where he could only hit 117 runs in 7 matches - and one of them was 93 not out against Zimbabwe.
14 Ian Raphael Bishop
Born 24 October 1967, Belmont, Port of Spain, Trinidad, Trinidad & Tobago
Played for Trinidad & Tobago, Derbyshire and the West Indies
Right Handed Batsman
Right Arm Fast Bowler
ODI Debut: Texaco Trophy, 2nd ODI, Leeds, England v West Indies, 21 May 1988, hit 2 not out and took 2/32 from 11 overs with 1 maiden.
84 ODIs for West Indies
405 ODI runs @ 16.20 with a strike rate of 55.47
118 ODI wickets @ 26.50 with an economy rate of 4.33
7 ODI 4-wicket-hauls
2 ODI 5-wicket-hauls
12 ODI catches
Very similar to our number four, is Ian Bishop. Born on the same spot, both bowling fast, both hampered by injuries. And indeed, Ian kept Tony Gray out of the team for most of the early 1990s, when a bowler like Gray would be in his prime. When his back didn't break, he was also a reasonably good bowler, usually keeping the rate down while taking wickets as well. His destructions of the Pakistanis in Australia - 5/27 to nearly bowl them out for 140 in January 1989, 5/25 to aid in their 72 all out in January 1993, and 4/38 to send them all out for 197 in January 1997 - came with remarkable regularity, and have to rank as his best bowling efforts in one-dayers. Bishop is unlikely to bowl in the team, at best being 5th or 6th best of the the bowlers, but his pace might come in useful on the relatively bouncy and dry Sharjah pitches.
15 Sarfraz Nawaz Malik
16 Mohammad Azharuddin
18 Daryll John Cullinan
19 Arjuna Ranatunga
20 Rumesh Joseph Ratnayeke
22 Simon Peter Davis
23 Navjot Singh Sidhu
24 Craig Russell Matthews
26 Michael Scott Kasprowicz
27 Michael Robert John Veletta
28 Louis Rohan Duleep Mendis
29 Saeed Anwar
30 Wavell Wayne Hinds
Note: Incomplete - as yet. Will try to do the rest of the test team at least later. Squad numbers were assigned in order of drafting.
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